William Shepherd
ID # 8509, (1844-)
| Father | Duncan Shepherd (1802-1886) |
| Mother | Margaret McLean (-1848) |
| Baptism | William Shepherd was baptized on 14 October 1844 at First Church, Galt. |
| Note | William Shepherd was baptized at First Church in Galt on October 14, 1844, by Rev. James Strang. As with all other baptisms from this era (1833 thru mid 1853), Rev. Strang does not name the parents, only the name of the child as well as the date of baptism. Young William died in childhood. This information is provided by father Duncan's obituary (see notes for father Duncan.) Young William was probably born in 1844. We do not have a date of death for him. Also, he was probably buried in First Church Cemetery at High Park (now Centennial Park). Some stones have survived, occasionally in odd places, and these have been listed by Norma Huber of the Waterloo branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society in her transcription work for these stones, but they do not include any of the Shepherd children. There was a dig in the mid 1880s and the cemetery was essentially razed. Remains and stones were taken to what became Mountview Cemetery, but Shepherd family stones were not among them. Not all remains were removed and there is the odd story of bones being found during construction work in the park. No evidence has been found that William survived as long as the Canada West census of 1851 (not begun until January of 1852), so it would seem that William died very young indeed. Beyond this, notes for Duncan tell that he had a brother William who died during the cholera epidemic of 1834. Duncan's son William may well be named after his uncle, and/or also possibly a grandparent. The obituary does tell us that young William was the son of Duncan's first wife, who we must believe to be Margaret McLean Shepherd. That young William was born in 1844 tells us that his mother must have lived at least that long, probably longer. It's safe to say, however, that Margaret McLean was dead prior to the census of January of 1852, for 2 year old daughter Almira is present and she was Duncan's daughter by his second wife, Margaret McLeish. This is a guess, but, probably, William was buried with his mother, Margaret McLean Shepherd and one or two sisters who apparently died as children. |
| Last Edited | 8 Mar 2021 |